The safety of commercially available and existing or used firearms has become a national issue, with recent legislation passed, requiring a dealer to offer a locking means for the firearms at the time of purchase. The concern for loaded and unlocked firearms within the household may soon result in a mandatory law that requires all firearms, new and used, have locking devices. Few gunlocks are designed exclusively for revolvers. Most gunlocks available are designed to be used on all types of firearms with the result that some features are not optimized for revolver application.
Conventionally, and in the past, many revolver gunlocks lock the firearm trigger by interlocking two separate pieces together around the trigger area. Additionally, there are revolver gunlocks in which a cable or chain is inserted into the barrel and out the rear breach of the firearm and ultimately secured on either end, thereby making the firearm inoperative. There is also a plug device that fits inside of a revolver cylinder hole to prevent cylinder rotation, but does not function as a locking device but only as a plug device.
Examples of representative patented inventions are as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,110,928 issued Sep. 5, 1978 to Smith for Safety Device for Preventing Unauthorized Actuation of Touch-Actuated Mechanism describes a magnetically operated trigger lock in which a pivotally mounted magnetically responsive bar positioned on the inside of the handle of the firearm is displaced allowing for trigger movement when the user wears a magnetic ring to activate the device. The '928 device requires a modification to the firearm in order to install the magnetically responsive bar inside the handle of the firearm.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,039 issued Apr. 28, 1998 to Garrett for Combination Locking Device for Firearms relates to a combination locking device either for engaging or disengaging existing safety devices on firearms, or as an independent safety device to block the firing mechanism of the firearm. The '039 device is a mechanical spring-loaded assembly that, like the '928 device above, requires a modification of the firearm.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,770 issued Sep. 7, 1993 to Lambert for Gun Locking Apparatus depicts a locking device for revolvers in which an outer tube having a plurality of collet spring fingers at one end receives a central mandrel in complementary coaxial relationship with it, wherein the outer tube with the central mandral inserted effects a spreading of the collet fingers to permit engagement with a rear terminal end of an associated revolver cylinder or barrel of a long arm, such as a rifle. The collet fingers include annular flanges received with the rear face of the cylinder or chamber for locking the device within the revolver structure. Coaxially aligned bores of the outer tube and the central mandral when aligned permit positioning of a padlock therethrough to lock the device in position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,263 issued Jul. 22, 1980 to Brouthers for Firearm Trigger Guard Assembly features a trigger guard assembly removably secured to the frame of the firearm by three support points. The first support point is a lug and socket means at the front of the trigger guard frame. The second support point is provided by a spring-biased plunger at the rear of the trigger guard assembly having a wedged end coacting with a slot in the frame. The third support point comprises a pin means extending through ears of the trigger guard frame and the revolver frame and providing a pivot pin for the hammer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,704 issued Oct. 25, 1994 to Benkovic for Firearm Lock is directed to a gunlock comprising a hardened steel rod threaded at each end, the threaded ends respectively engaging a cartridge shaped plug and rotatable tumbler lock. The lock is fixed within a sleeve body adapted to fit snugly around a barrel end of a firearm to be locked. The cartridge plug fits snugly within the firing chamber of the firearm in the same manner as a cartridge adapted to be fired within the gun. The rod inserted down the bore of the barrel is threadedly engaged with the cartridge plug by rotating a mating key engaged in the lock. Removal of the key secures the gunlock within the firearm.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,959 issued May 9, 1995 to Bentley for Gun Lock Assembly is directed to a gunlock comprised of a two major components, an elongated rod member and a predetermined length of flexible cable whose opposite ends can be secured together with a lock. The elongated rod member has a shank portion of sufficient length to extend into the breech of a gun. The head portion has an aperture through which the cable is threaded. The cable is also threaded through a trigger guard and locked. The flexible cable has a predetermined length such that the rod member cannot be removed from the gun barrel without unlocking the lock.
The above patent inventions all provide a solution to the locking of firearms and usually to handguns. All have limitations, however, in that they require a modification to the firearm to install, or they are expensive to purchase or they have a key that does not permit rapid unlocking in tactical or unlit situations. Most are of a size that makes casing or holstering difficult These limitations may deter the firearm owner from locking the firearm, resulting in a situation where firearms are deliberately left unlocked loaded for security reasons. No revolver gunlock is known to exist in which the design is specifically directed to a revolver such that the cylinder of the revolver is positively locked and secured by a lock-housing with multiple radial protruding balls, cam rollers or other shaped particles, or by means of an internal ball/cam roller expanding/extracting plunger rod, restoring spring and inner attached permanent magnet, and to have the capability of being quickly or instantaneously magnetically activated and deactivated. Such a gun lock would be inexpensive and would allow the firearm to have munitions rounds in the remaining cylinder chambers for rapid loading in the event of an emergency, and be compact for ease of casing or holstering.